The Performative Landscape of Going-To-Work: On the Edge of a Jewish Ultraorthodox Neighborhood

Abstract

Following recent insights into performativity and space, I explore the widespread routine of going-to-work as a capitalist ritual. Going-to-work produces a powerful yet ordinary, unspectacular landscape, whose performativity is fourfold: the compatibility of the material form and human use of it; the movements of people and the clothes they wear; the variety of individual practices of going-to-work; and the timing and spacing of this collective ritual. Generally, going-to-work is performative, because it transforms people into employees, defining productivity in terms of paid work. Hence, the prime quality of this landscape is to enhance economically productive bodies. In the second part of this paper, I examine this productive—nonproductive distinction in a unique setting on the edge of an Israeli neighborhood of ultraorthodox Jews, whose definition of men's work—unpaid religious studies—contrasts with that of the majority of the modern population. The distinctive ultraorthodox appearance, originally designed to mark a particular Jewish identity, signifies their nonproductivity as a spatial performance of Otherness. This provides an opportunity to probe going-to-work in this specific place as an arena where the ultraorthodox identity as Other intersects with their capitalist identity as Other. Short street interviews with modern and ultra-orthodox Jews show that they recognize work as the main theme of this landscape. They are also aware that work is socially defined and can be criticized on both capitalist and ultraorthodox—religious grounds, and they illustrate how the controversy over the definition of work lies within the struggle over Jewish identity. I conclude by illuminating the performative role of space in displaying identity and social ideas.

“Turn on the radio, bust out a song”: the experience of driving to work

“…As these studies have demonstrated, the stories commuters tell about their experiences helps make more explicit the personal, emotional side of commuting and automobile travel. Individual narratives allow us to perceive how those who do it understand driving to work not as an undesirable or empty activity, but rather as something complex and meaningful and important (Blumen 2007).…”

International Perspectives on the Legal Environment for Selection

“…Three groups are typically considered disadvantaged in the labor market, namely, Palestinian Arabs, Sephardic Jews, and females. With the majority of Palestinian Arabs continuing to be employed primarily in blue-collar jobs, such as construction and manufacturing (Blumen, 2007), the pay of male salaried employees continues to be over 20% higher than that of females on average (Israel Ministry of Industry and Trade, 2007) and higher unemployment rates for females and Arabs relative to male Jews (9.5% and 12.8% vs. 8.3%, respectively); concerns regarding employment and income disparities remain major issues in the Israeli political landscape.…”

Women who DARE: driving attitudes and road experiences among ultraorthodox women in Israel

“…From this perspective, it looks as if a new kind of spatiality might appear which may bring about motion between those two spaces (Blumen 2007a(Blumen , 2007b. From this perspective, it looks as if a new kind of spatiality might appear which may bring about motion between those two spaces (Blumen 2007a(Blumen , 2007b.…”

“…Guggenheim and O. Taubman -Ben-Ari even endanger the stringent social norms regarding the above-mentioned division of private-public spatialities (Blumen 2002). Although studies have explored various aspects of women's mobility around the world, to the best of our knowledge, only few dealt specifically with ultraorthodox women (Blumen 2002(Blumen , 2007a(Blumen , 2007b. While restricting space is often considered a crucial indicator of the political and social insignificance of women in a society (Fenster 2005;Moss and Falconer Al-Hindi 2008), specific cultural norms may shed light on other possible explanations for this social phenomenon.…”